Dental Anatomy: Permanent maxillary 1st molar

Permanent maxillary molars
?Permanent maxillary molars are the largest and strongest maxillary teeth.
?Generally speaking, the maxillary molars have large crowns with four well-formed cusps. They have three roots, two buccal and one lingual, the lingual root is the largest.
?They are not succedaneous teeth, because they have no predecessors, they erupt behind the deciduous molars.
?Their main function is:
?grinding of the food, they assist the mandibular molars in performing the major portion of the work in the mastication
?supporting the muscles of mastication.
?maintaining vertical dimension.
Permanent maxillary 1st molar
?It is the largest tooth in the maxillary arch.
?The permanent first molars usually appear in the oral cavity when the child is 6 years old, the mandibular molars precede the maxillary molars.
?The first permanent molar (maxillary or mandibular) erupts posterior to the second deciduous molar, taking up a position in contact with it.
Principle identifying features of the maxillary 1st molar
?rhomboidal occlusal table or outline.
?the presence of a fifth cusp named (the cusp or tubercle of Carabelli) a non-functional cusp on the lingual surface of the mesio-lingual cusp.
?the presence of an oblique ridge extending from the mesio-lingual cusp to the disto-buccal cusp.
?the presence of three well separated and well developed roots: two buccal and one lingual, the lingual one is the longest.